Vibratory conveyors are widely used for material handling, and typically include a generally elongated conveyor bed, and an associated vibratory drive. Operation of the vibratory drive induces vibratory motion in the conveyor bed, which motion in turn induces movement of articles along the bed. Vibratory drives for such devices typically include one or more pairs of counter-rotating shafts having eccentrically-mounted weights thereon for inducing the desired vibration of the conveyor bed.
In the design of machinery involving the use of rotating shafts, bearings are employed to support the shafts, and to allow them to rotate freely with a minimum energy loss from friction. For cost effective design, it is desirous to minimize the weight of such machinery as much as possible. This is particularly true in the design of vibratory conveying and feeding equipment where unnecessary weight is detrimental in terms of increased power requirement, size, isolation system, and cost.
One approach to weight reduction involves the use of readily available standard bearing housings into which the bearings are press fitted. This approach is advantageous compared to press fitting the bearings directly into the wall of the support structure which would require the wall to be of substantial thickness thereby adding considerable weight and cost to the structure. The bearing housing generally consists of a cast iron ring with a mounting flange that may be an integral part of the housing, or may be a separate formed sheet steel component keyed to hold the cast iron ring in place. A hole is bored into the center of the cast ring, sized to the proper diameter for a press fit of the bearing insert into the hole.
The bearing and bearing housing together are fitted to an end of the shaft, which then can be bolted to the periphery of a hole cut in the wall of the support structure used to mount the shaft as applicable to the particular machine design. A further bearing housing and bearing can be fitted to the opposite end of the shaft, and the further bearing housing can also be bolted to the support structure as applicable to the particular machine design.